Government and Politics

One Tri-Cities lawmaker wants to restrict nighttime airplane warning lights on new and old wind turbines.

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee emphasized housing construction and homelessness response during his 2023 State of the State address on Tuesday. The issue is a bipartisan priority for the state legislature, but approaches differ among the lawmakers who convened in Olympia this week.

If Washington students get their way, the state soon will have an official dinosaur.

Washington state voters and lawmakers appear to be in close alignment on their top priorities for the incoming Washington Legislature. The 2023 session gavels to order at noon on Monday, January 9.

If U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers is appointed the new head of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, she said she has big plans for the country’s energy landscape.

Voters in the Tri-Cities area have noticed vehicles sitting in parking lots near ballot drop boxes.

Should the top elections official in Washington state officially be a nonpartisan? That's one difference between the top two finalists running for Washington Secretary of State. Nonpartisan challenger Julie Anderson wants to make the job independent from political party affiliations. Her opponent, Democratic incumbent Steve Hobbs says it's an unnecessary change. County auditors and sheriffs associations are also chewing over party labels and what those labels convey about the leanings of their offices.

A quartet of independent candidates on the ballot this November in Oregon and Washington state will test voter appetites for a centrist "third way." They are experienced contenders running for state senate, Oregon governor or Washington Secretary of State. Unaffiliated candidates are popping up around the nation too, with a common theme of being fed up with a divisive two-party system.

Democratic-led states on the West Coast are setting ambitious timelines to phase out sales of gasoline-powered cars and light trucks. The Washington Legislature just approved a goal that all new cars sold in the state beginning with model year 2030 be electric. Oregon and California have 2035 as their target. Some of these dates are aspirational, but one has teeth.

The U.S. Senate Tuesday voted to adopt year-round daylight saving time. The measure now goes to the House for further consideration. This timely, but unexpected development raises the prospects for ending the twice-yearly changing of our clocks.